Sport Matters

The sacking of Kaitano Tembo as the SuperSport United head coach in the South African premier league has left a bitter taste in the mouth. Tembo had taken the reigns at the Pretoria-based club in 2018, taking over from Eric Tinkler who had a somewhat difficult short stint in charge. Things changed for the better when Tembo stepped in, despite United finishing sixth at the end of the season. The following season, 2019/20, he delivered the MTN8 cup. Tembo was enjoying a working understanding with his youthful squad as many of the players were developed under his watch in the club's relatively successful academy. That season he finished fifth in the league, same position as in 2020/21. His work in the past two seasons has been made difficult by him losing his key players, mainly to crosstown rich boys, Mamelodi Sundowns. The heaviest blow was when United's talisman Teboho Mokoena left for Sundowns in January this year, leaving Tembo and the team in serious limbo. Before him,...

The demise of eight football fans in a stampede at Olembe Stadium on Monday has left another dark blot on the beautiful game and the Afcon tournament currently on in Cameroon.  With proper security measures in place the tragedy could have been avoided, that's what we many football think. Maybe not.  But one thing that's clear is that the tournament in Cameroon is proving to be among the best in the recent times despite the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. The smaller nations in the tournament have come to the party in a big way so much it is expected that one of them will reach the semifinals. That will come as a big boost to the African game after heroics by minnows such as Comoros and Malawi for instance before they fell in the last-16 round. The tragedy at Olembe nothwithstanding, I feel football-loving Africans need a football anecdote of global proportions to comfort their hearts.  Though the main stadium for the Afcon tournament is widely known as Olem...

It is a known fact that coaches have a short lifespan at South African club Chippa United, thanks to trigger-happy owner Siviwe Mpengesi. In the past month alone he fired two coaches, the hardworking Clinton Larsen and sacked Larsen's replacement Duran Francis after just two matches. Today, on October 1, the club announced Norman Mapeza as the new coach but that's not the end of the coaches' merry-go-round horror story at Chippa United. When Mapeza finally takes over the hot seat, the current stand-in coach Mbuyiselo Sambu, who was in charge when United lost 1-0 to visiting Bidvest Wits today, would have to make way. That will mean the Chilli Boys would take instruction from the fourth coach in just over three weeks! I suspect that's a world record, however, I want to believe Mpengesi is looking for longevity in Mapeza. Staying power and indomitable spirit is what the former Zimbabwe international is known for, both in his playing and coaching careers. For examp...

Many South African football fans have expressed frustration over the appointment of "unknown" Molefi Ntseki as the new coach of the national team Bafana Bafana. I can understand their frustration: Ntseki is not known for any achievement as a football coach at a high level. Though I have seen him being interviewed on TV, I can't say I know his voice. His outlandish dress sense, as seen in the picture above, has not helped  endear him to shocked fans. One friend of mine on social media expressed fear for Ntseki, saying his shirt and jacket, and furrowed shaven head, reminded him of fierce Basotho cattle rustlers operating in Eastern Cape highlands just over the border from Lesotho. Granted, Ntseki has never coached a team in SA's premier league, or in another league anywhere in the world. But referring to him as unknown is a tad over the top, a decription used merely for promoting the so-called shock over Ntseki's announcement than entertaining any logic ove...

Today South Africa begins what promises to be the country's most successful campaign in the IAAF World Championship. The world athletics showpiece in London has all the ingredients of a masterpiece and, even better, Team SA looks good enough to add value and improve on previous performances. Since readmission to world sports in the early 1990s, SA has had poor pickings in the IAAF event, returning its better marks in 2009 (Berlin) and 2011 (Daegu, Korea). Three medals in Berlin and four in Daegu served mostly to save face but they can't be noted to be counting among the best of the best. It is fitting however to compliment those athletics who gave their all for the country previously. This time we have a squad that, on paper, has the potential to return with six medals or more. Caster Semenya was involved in the feats of those two editions, winning women's 800m gold in Berlin and silver in Daegu. Interestingly, she is among favourites to win gold medals in London. E...

Unhappy times... Orlando Pirates supporters are having it tough as their beloved club flounders. Orlando Pirates supporters are looking forward to today's Soweto derby with a high level of despondency. In fact, to say they are looking forward to this match is somewhat inaccurate, but somehow they feel obliged to pay attention to the match because of tradition and historical rivalry with the opponent, Kaizer Chiefs.  The Soweto derby is the biggest soccer match in South Africa, and one of the biggest on the continent. Though the encounter this afternoon is an exhibition match under the guise of the Carling Black Label Cup, when  Pirates and Chiefs meet there are no friendly pleasantries exchanged. The derby is a fight for bragging rights, and very little else matters. For Pirates, the overwhelming sadness enveloping their supporters is not so much from the bad season they had, playing the worst football ever by the club's standards.  Yes, it was bad and ended with ...

Changed man... Tebogo Langerman revealed how he had in the past undermined the importance of CAF club championship until most recently. All eyes in African football are on Mamelodi Sundowns this weekend, as the South African and continental champions make their Fifa Club World Cup debut. Sundowns meet host and Japan champs, Kashima Antlers, on Sunday December 11. The Antlers, from Ibaraki Prefecture on Japan's main island Honshu, are simply the glamour boys of Japanese football. They have won that country's premier league eight times, an no other team in the J League has won the title more than three times. So, it's clear Sundowns quarterfinal opponents in the Fifa tournament are no pushovers. The match taking place in 72 300 capacity Yokohama International Stadium, the home ground of Antlers' fiercest rivals F Merinos, does not proviude offer any reprieve because the Japanese seek success for their country in this tournament. Naturally I want success for Sun...